At the end of "Hachi: A Dog's Tale", the old Hachi is shown waiting for Parker outside the train station on what turns out to be the last day of his life. When Parker comes out of the station, the old Hachi is shown lifting his head. But the dog that runs up and meets Parker is the young Hachi.

An explanation might be that Hachi, upon seeing Parker, felt young and energetic once again. But it seems to me that it might have been more poignant if the old Hachi was shown slowly walking down and meeting Parker, who then kneels down and hugs his dog. What does showing the young instead of the old Hachi add to that scene?

2 Answers
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Hachi is dead at that point, as is Parker. Old Hachi dies, and as he does so, his "spirit"/"soul"/"consciousness" is presumably going to some dog equivalent of heaven where he sees his master and his spirit runs to him. In this dog heaven, presumably Hachi is no longer an old dog, and instead is young and energetic and will spend the rest of eternity with the spirit of Parker.

In the Japanese original, "Hachiko Monogatari", they did portray it that way. The young Hachi and the professor meet in a heavenly garden. But in the American version, the meeting takes place right at the station square - on earth. That is what led to my question.
– whirlawayAug 26 '16 at 11:47

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@whirlaway Then it seems using the young one istead of the old one might be supposed to emphasize exactly that point that is not the actual train station and Parker never really came back. The unrealistic subsitituion of the old Hachi for the young one tells us that this is heaven and not just the normal station square.
– Napoleon Wilson♦Aug 26 '16 at 12:16

If you look at the bigger picture as Hachi was clearly dying, the intent was to make it appear as Hachi's life was flashing before his ever so weak eyes experiencing for the last time all the joys he shared with Parker; therefore, of course Hachi would have seen himself as a young energetic dog once again and with his last dying breath.